Bayreuth Festival starts new era by discussing Hitler and Wagner
It could be the making of a revolution in one of Germany’s most hallowed cultural shrines.
The two great-granddaughters of the composer Richard Wagner held their first Bayreuth Festival this weekend — and have promised to reveal the Wagner family’s link to the Nazis.They even want to tackle the question of whether their grandmother, Winifred Wagner, slept with Hitler.
Eva Pasquier-Wagner, 64, and Katharina Wagner, 31, took over the festival from their ailing father, Wolfgang, and are committed to making the event, which is a high point in the classical music calendar, modern.
The aim is to make it less elitist and less secretive. There are shortened children’s versions of Wagnerian classics, live-streaming of performances on the internet, open-air public viewing, new programme notes and an introduction to each performance.
Wagner was Hitler’s favourite composer, but how close were the family to him? “I was repeatedly confronted with this topic when I was growing up,” Ms Wagner said. “Was my grandmother Hitler’s lover? To what extent was my father embroiled with Hitler? If my sister and I don’t ask the questions, who will?”
The plan is for historians to produce a report by 2013, the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth. Wahnfried, the Wagner family villa, will house a permanent exhibition on the Nazi years...
Read entire article at Times (UK)
The two great-granddaughters of the composer Richard Wagner held their first Bayreuth Festival this weekend — and have promised to reveal the Wagner family’s link to the Nazis.They even want to tackle the question of whether their grandmother, Winifred Wagner, slept with Hitler.
Eva Pasquier-Wagner, 64, and Katharina Wagner, 31, took over the festival from their ailing father, Wolfgang, and are committed to making the event, which is a high point in the classical music calendar, modern.
The aim is to make it less elitist and less secretive. There are shortened children’s versions of Wagnerian classics, live-streaming of performances on the internet, open-air public viewing, new programme notes and an introduction to each performance.
Wagner was Hitler’s favourite composer, but how close were the family to him? “I was repeatedly confronted with this topic when I was growing up,” Ms Wagner said. “Was my grandmother Hitler’s lover? To what extent was my father embroiled with Hitler? If my sister and I don’t ask the questions, who will?”
The plan is for historians to produce a report by 2013, the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth. Wahnfried, the Wagner family villa, will house a permanent exhibition on the Nazi years...